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November 28, 2011

Brewers pick Johnny Narron to be hitting coach

Johnny Narron, who last season served as the Rangers' assistant hitting coach and for fours years has been a confidant to Josh Hamilton, has been hired by Milwaukee as its hitting coach.
Among the hitters Narron helped shape in 2011 was Mike Napoli, who in May and June was hitting around. 200. Napoli, though, had the second-best average in baseball after the All-Star break and finished with career-highs in average, homers and RBIs.

Narron, a former coach in the Brewers' system, joined Cincinnati in 2007 as a special assistant coach whose primary duty was to spend time with Hamilton in his first season in the majors after battling addictions to drugs and alcohol. Narron was hired by the Rangers in a similar capacity after they traded for Hamilton in December 2007.

General manager Jon Daniels said that the Rangers have spoken with Hamilton on how to support him without Narron, but no plan has been put into place.